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LAKELAND - One season after winning 13 overall games and seven Sunshine State Conference contests, Florida Southern begins the year with high hopes for continued improvement under second year coach Betsy Harris.
The 13 wins in 2014-15 were six more than the program won in 2013-14, while the seven SSC victories was one more than the Mocs had won the previous two seasons combined. FSC went 4-12 in SSC play in 2012-13 and 2-14 in SSC play in 2013-14.
"I am excited to see how the girls come out and play this weekend. Are they going to come out motivated, or flat, we really don't know as we have a mixture of old and new girls this year," Harris said when asked about opening the 2015-16 season this weekend. "We feel like we have more talent this year, but there have been inconsistencies in practice we haven't been pleased with, but the talent is there if we can get them all on the same page."
This weekend the Moccasins will open the second year of Harris' tenure by hosting the SSC/SIAC Challenge event at Jenkins Field House. FSC tips off its 2015-16 season by hosting Paine on Friday, Nov. 13 at 4 p.m. and then facing Clark Atlanta on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 4 p.m. Saint Leo is the other SSC team competing in the event as the Lions will face Clark Atlanta and Paine respectively at 2 p.m. each day.
"I do believe our players are ready to play this weekend and figure things out, because it always helps when you play a game so you can fix the mistakes you make," said Harris, who is entering fifth season as a collegiate head coach.
Harris says her team, which didn't play any exhibition games to begin the season and only held a scrimmage against Ave Marie on Halloween, is still a work in progress heading into this weekend's opening two games.
"We still have a lot of things to work out with our offense, but we aren't running it correctly," said the former Alabama Crimson Tide player. "Hopefully we can get it corrected and look a little better this weekend and then be ready for our first two conference games next week."
Harris' second Moccasin team returns three starters and six letterwinners from last season's 13-14 squad. The Mocs, who were tabbed to finish seventh in the Preseason SSC Coaches' Poll, also added seven newcomers to its roster, including two Division I transfers from the University of North Florida.
"All of our returning players I feel came back better this year," Harris added. "Plus, I think people will really be surprised by two of the freshmen we have in Camille (Giardina) and Anja (Fuchs-Robetin). I think they will have an impact in each game we play. They are really skillful players and of course, our two transfers from UNF, Flo (Ward) and Bailey (Florin), will also make an impact."
Among the key returners for the Mocs this season are senior guard Sydni Payne (Conyers, Ga.), senior forward Mariah Harris (Gainesville, Fla.) and sophomore guard Jensen Blassage (Cherry Valley, Ill.). The team's other returning letterwinners are senior guard Shaquita Snow (Racine, Wis.), who missed the final 20 games last year due to a knee injury and junior forward Danielle Thomas (Conyers, Ga.) and Gianna Vastola (Sarasota, Fla.).
Payne averaged 8.1 points per game last season, while Harris averaged 8.0 points and 3.6 rebounds per game and comes into the season having scored 652 points and pulled down 452 rebounds in her three seasons as a Moccasin and Blassage averaged 8.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and led the team with 80 assists a year ago.
Vastola is the team's leading returning scorer from last season as she averaged 8.5 points per game and shot 47 percent from the field and 83 percent at the free throw line.
In fact, five of the team's top eight scorers return this season.
Some the Mocs top newcomers this season are junior UNF transfers Bailey Florin (Orlando, Fla.) and Flo Ward (Salisbury, England), while the top freshmen are guard Camille Giardina (Sarasota, Fla.) and forward Anja Fuchs-Robetin (Vienna, Austria).
Harris said Florin, who averaged 8.9 points per game and shot 36 percent from the field prior to suffering a season ending knee in early February last season at UNF, has been slowed in preseason due to injury and just recently returned to practice.
"We have to get Bailey healthy, because once she's healthy, she will be tough for people to guard," the Moccasin coach said.
As a senior last year at Sarasota High School in Sarasota, Giardina was named the Class 7A District 16 Player of the Year and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune All-Area Girls Basketball Player of the Year. In her high school career, Giardina scored 2,077 points, including averaging 16.7 points as a senior.
One of the biggest changes fans will notice when they come to a women's basketball game this season are several new rules for the women's game that went into effect during the offseason. The new rules for women's basketball in the NCAA reflect how the women's game is now played both in the WBNA and internationally. (Click here for a guide on the NCAA women's basketball rule changes for 2015-17)
The women's game will now feature four 10 minute quarters as opposed to two 20 minute halves like they used to play. In addition to a change to a quarter system, the NCAA also adopted new rules for timeouts, media timeouts and bonus free throws. Unlike in the past when teams shot 1-and-1 free throws on the seventh team foul of a half and two shots on the 10th team foul, teams will now be awarded two shots on the fifth team foul in each period and the team fouls will reset each period.
This season in the SSC, the coaches voted to get rid of media timeouts so there will be no media timeouts during the women's game. Without media timeouts, teams will be given three 30-second timeouts and two full (60 second) timeouts.
The other big new rule change this season is that when a timeout is charged to the offensive team during the final 59.9 seconds of the fourth period and/or any extra period(s), that team has the option to advance the throw-in spot to the 28-foot mark in the front court on the same side of the court as the scorers' table.
"I don't think playing four 10 minute quarters will be a huge difference as you are still playing 20 minutes each half. I think the biggest difference is as a conference, we decided not to have media timeouts this year," Harris said when asked about the new rules this season. "The reason for not having media timeouts this year is the coaches decided that all the stoppages in play slowed the pace and flow of the game."
Harris said she expects that fans will notice the games will be faster this season due to having no media timeouts.
"I think by eliminating media timeouts, we will speed up the game," the Moc coach added. "I know I don't like a lot of stoppages, because want to tire the other team out and these new rules should help us."
The Mocs begin the season with their first ever match-up against Paine, who welcomes back three starters and seven letterwinners from last season's 11-17 squad that finished tied for third in the SIAC East Division with a 7-10 record. Sixth-year Lions coach Willie Adams also brought in seven newcomers this year.
Among the key returners for Paine are junior center Janisha Wilkerson, senior guard Ashley Watts and senior guard Tannasia Rhodes. Those three players were the Lions top three scorers from a season ago as Wilkerson averaged 14.4 points and 7.9 rebounds per game and shot 53 percent from the field, while Watts averaged 15.3 points per game and Rhodes averaged 10.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, the Mocs will face Clark Atlanta. Last season, the Panthers went 9-16 overall and 5-12 in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference under head coach Vanessa Moore in her 14th season. In the 2015-16 SIAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, CAU was tabbed to finish fifth in the East Division.
CAU returns four starters and eight letterwinners from last season's squad, including its leading scorer from last season, senior guard Mykala Jones, who averaged 16.3 points per game and shot 44 percent from the field, 36 percent from the 3-point line and 80 percent at the foul line. In addition to Jones, the other returning starters are senior forward Siera Bubb (8.8 ppg, 9.0 rpg), junior guard Sydni Davis (9.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg) and senior guard Brandie Robertson (2.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg).
Meanwhile, the Mocs opponent on Saturday, Paine, who faces Saint Leo on Friday, before meeting FSC, welcomes back three starters and seven letterwinners from last season's 11-17 squad that finished tied for third in the SIAC East Division with a 7-10 record. Sixth-year Lions coach Willie Adams also brought in seven newcomers this year.
Among the key returners for Paine are junior center Janisha Wilkerson, senior guard Ashley Watts and senior guard Tannasia Rhodes. Those three players were the Lions top three scorers from a season ago as Wilkerson averaged 14.4 points and 7.9 rebounds per game and shot 53 percent from the field, while Watts averaged 15.3 points per game and Rhodes averaged 10.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.
FSC has never faced Paine or Clark Atlanta in women's basketball.
